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U-] <br />Mining operations initially started on private land in 1972 (the Montoya Pit). Operations <br />expanded onto Bureau of Land Management (BLM)-administered lands in 1988. The portion of <br />the pit located on public lands is identified as the Grandview Pit. <br />In the late 1990s, BLM recognized that the demands for recreation use, mineral development, <br />and wildlife habitat needs, along with the increased residential development in the general area, <br />would affect public resources. BLM completed the Grandview Ridge Coordinated Resource <br />Management Plan (GRMCP) in 2000. The decision, based on an environmental analysis, <br />resulted in increased management emphasis for recreation and wildlife and redefined the Mineral <br />Emphasis Area. This area designates where development of solid minerals will be encouraged. <br />This area was reduced from 400 acres to 160 acres. It does not include 18 acres of public land <br />that had been previously developed for gravel, as an expansion from the Montoya Pit, located on <br />private land. <br />The BLM completed an environmental analysis to develop 30 acres of the Mineral Emphasis <br />Area in 2001. C and J Gravel won the subsequent competitive bid for a contract to expand the <br />existing Grandview Pit into the designated Mineral Emphasis Area. The company's permit was <br />renewed in 2005. In 2006, C and J recognized it was nearing the limit of gravel extraction <br />authorized in the existing permit and is now proposing a permit renewal onto adjacent BLM, also <br />within the 160-acre Mineral Emphasis Area. <br />e r r e <br />C and J Gravel is proposing to renew their permit to continue operations into an adjacent BLM <br />land parcel in the Grandview area. The Proposed Action would create approximately 15 acres of <br />new surface disturbance. The area of disturbance would extend between the existing Grandview <br />Pit and the existing La Plata County gravel pit, located on private land (See Figure 1). The <br />proposed expansion would border one recreational trail in Sale Barn Canyon. The operator has <br />elected to avoid a small portion of the trail that overlaps the Mineral Emphasis Area. Total <br />surface disturbance on BLM land would be approximately 63 acres.' Expected production in the <br />proposed 15-acre parcel is expected to consist of approximately 2 million tons. <br />It is estimated that the production would continue for between 5 and 10 years, depending on the <br />level of demand. The permit renewal would be for a period of ten years. In the event that the <br />total area is not completely mined out in ten years, the permit may, at BLM's discretion, be <br />renewed. <br />Operations in the proposed adjacent 15-acre area would be similar to those in the existing gravel <br />operations. Overburden materials will be stripped and stockpiled using a crawler type dozer <br />and/or earth moving scraper. The raw bank material would be excavated at a 2:1 slope and <br />` 18 acres were developed before the designation of the current Minerals Emphasis Area prior to 2000. 30 acres <br />have been permitted within the Minerals Emphasis Area to date. This permit would represent an additional 15 acres <br />within the Minerals Emphasis Area. <br />Grandview Gravel Pit Expansion Environmental Assessment 4